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Got HD Radio?
- Thread starter CraigD
- Start date
I'm not from South Carolina. However, I do have an HD Radio from my Retro Mini purchased at Amazon and it works so tremendously well, including picking up the HD subs.
I tried listening to 94.5 HD-4 and the audio sounded very compressed and swimmy, very low bitrate sounding. The only other station I know of running this many subchannels is 107.3 and quality is fine on all of them. Is this something that can be fixed?
Side note: shouldn’t the stereo carrier on 94.5 be turned off? I know it is on 106.3 and the two ESPN translators locally and most talk stations in general.
Side note: shouldn’t the stereo carrier on 94.5 be turned off? I know it is on 106.3 and the two ESPN translators locally and most talk stations in general.
You are correct on the current quality. Thank you for listening! Working on that and appreciate the input. Not sure how much you know about HD but the 4th channel is only able to go to a certain bit rate. It's there temporarily. Improvements coming even where it is soon. As far as the stereo carrier... no. It's 100,000 watts and does quite fine. The only folks who turn off stereo carriers are the ones with lesser signals trying to maximize. I think you'll find most talkers are not full class c's. It's just another teensy difference in the listening experience.
Since HD-4s are usually used more for talk stations because of the decreased fidelity, just put Earth on the HD-1 and move WGTK's talk to HD-4. 😂
Music on an HD4 channel is never going to sound good or even passable unless at least two of the other three subchannels are low-bitrate mono talk formats.
Summit has done a decent job with WJMZ, the HD2 for alternative and HD3 for Awesome 99.5 sound pretty good. I can’t tell if WJMZ HD-4 with Hot sounds bad or not since that station’s signal always sounds like trash anyway so there’s no good reference to compare it.
WFBC HD-2 (The Block) doesn’t sound bad but the audio level is extremely low.
WFBC HD-2 (The Block) doesn’t sound bad but the audio level is extremely low.
FYI - an HD-1 of any station must be the main analog channel’s content 24/7. It also must have the higher rate. Two and three can be altered while 4 is on its own at a lower rate. You can trust me when I say I’m working hard to maximize our digital signals, content and clarity. We’re not quite there yet. More to come!
I have this memory of one HD station playing Christmas music all year long, and the HD-1 plays the station's regular music. When the main station switches to Christmas music, that music remains on HD-2. I looked it up and it's not WKQC Charlotte NC, but I'm sure I remember someone doing this.
Starting Monday am at midnight Earth-FM WRTH (classic hits) moves to 94.5 WGTK-HD2 (from HD4) for the new QUU artist experience. It’s the latest “RDS” type technology on another level. Album logos, show logos, advertiser logos and more. Poder will move to HD4. It’s happening now on 94.5 The Answer’s HD-1 but slightly less impressive with news-talk format. Enjoy!
It's hard. On the other hand, having the same kind of enhanced features like satellite or streaming (what's playing, album art, etc.) helps keep radio stations relevant. You might not consciously look for those things while finding a station, but if you are used to them, you might miss them and perceive the AM or FM station as "old fashioned." Plus, the data is already in the playout systems and supported by HD Radio, so why not take advantage of it.
....even dial location will be difficult to explain. "103-3, 95-9 and 94 point 5 HD2, Earth FM." A mouthful.
The good news is that, with a name like "Earth FM" as your branding, you don't really need to say the frequencies as much. If you used your frequency in your name, that would suck. Hot 98-1, B 93.7, etc.
My guess is, and Craig could tell us for sure, is that they will keep using the regular FM frequencies and, once and a while, say something like "also now on 94point5 HD2." All the fancy schmancy other stuff people will notice when they tune to that. No need to promote that stuff.
Like a couple have noted, we are not going to spend a lot of time on explaining. The artist experience part you will just get if you have the technology and it will happen without explanation needed. As far as the mumbo jumbo of 'we're here there and everywhere'... what's the problem?! lol Yea, not a dream come true, but, I'd rather be heard and explain than not an option at all. Once we change the second frequency (95.9 -> 95.5) we're going to need to drive that home for a bit. The HD-2 on 94.5 will, for the most part, be a top of hour legal explanation. It may get a mention here and there. We're going to be a diary market for the foreseeable future so, we play the game. Still, fun to see Ram Jam on 94.5 
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Finally got to hear 94.5 HD2 today - sounds great! Pretty equivalent to SiriusXM quality which isn’t that bad these days. Love the cover art feature. The only other stations using that (or even showing the logo I believe) I think are the iHeart stations.
Was there ever any consideration for 103.3 to broadcast in HD? I know the audio improvements are quite minor but seems like you could have some fun with the HD channels.
Was there ever any consideration for 103.3 to broadcast in HD? I know the audio improvements are quite minor but seems like you could have some fun with the HD channels.
Wouldn't that impact the regular analog signal...and not in a good way? I don't think it would be worth it since 103.3 and 95.9 both have more limited signals in the market already.
I’ve noticed the audio on 94.5-HD2 has gotten really low compared to 94.5-HD1 and the HD3 and HD4. Also much lower volume than 103.3. Is this a marketing ploy so we don’t bother switching to anything else so we don’t wreck when we get jarred by how much louder they are 😂
Seriously, I also notice 93.7-HD2 The Block is significantly quieter than the HD1 and HD3, and also a lower volume than the 96.3 signal.
Seriously, I also notice 93.7-HD2 The Block is significantly quieter than the HD1 and HD3, and also a lower volume than the 96.3 signal.
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